Rumor: HTC and Verizon to release Android world phone in Q1 2011

Yes, you read it right -- it's being rumored that Verizon and HTC may be joining forces to give us all the Android world phone we've been asking for sometime early next year. For those wondering, a world phone is a dual-radio CDMA/GSM device (CDMA is what Sprint and Verizon use; GSM is what T-Mobile, AT&T and the rest of the world use.) That means the phone can be used outside the USA with a local SIM card, and it's something that Android is sorely lacking.

We're still dealing with a bunch of unknowns, but the rumored specs are a 4-inch screen, horizontal sliding qwerty keyboard, and a minimum 1.2 GHz processor. Bring it, I say! There's a couple more pictures after the break if one just wasn't enough. [The Droid Guy via @matrix2004 on Twitter]

I disagree. The space between the keys gives tactile definition to the keys. (makes it easier to press just one key...) All the oversized keys on most slider phones do is make it harder to hit the right key. HP knew this over 20 years ago with their award winning calculator kbds and the HP 95/100/200 palmtop keyboards. (Damn I miss those palmtop kbds...)

They've also managed to avoid the mistake some keyboards have of putting the top row too close to the bottom edge of the display which makes it hard to use the top row of the kbd.

While I would have prefered a five-row keyboard, the spacing on this kbd makes it the very first physical-kbd android phone I would buy and actually use the physical kbd.

I like it, but why is HTC going backwards in terms of the layout of the keyboard?? I mean the Touch Pro 2 has the best keyboard ever on any smartphone yet it hasnt been introduced on any Android phone to date (5 rows of keys instead of 4). Are they being lazy? Holding back for the perfect phone?